tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. low des raise. -- all look at the presidential race. gchris cillizza is out with a nw book, also iyanla vanzant. er latest project is goncalled "iyanla, fix my life." we are glad you joined us. >> there is a saying that dr. always the right time to do the

right thing. by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: chris cillizza is the managing editor at the washington post. he is also the author of a new

book. good to have you back from the program. good >> thank you for having me back. tavis: i have not had a chance to talk to you person to person since mr. romney has made his famous comment. let me start with a comment itself and what your read on it is. >> there were a number of stab things for him politically. it was a tape of him speaking to republican donors. he seemed to say an honest attempt to say there are a lot of people who are not going to vote for me. there are a lot of people that are going to vote for me, and we need to go to the middle. what does that do for him?

it reinforces the character of the obama team has work very hard to sell to voters in swing states, which is this is a very wealthy person who looks out for and things first and foremost about himself and his wealthy friends, so that is why it is so hurtful to his campaign because it played into the narrative president obama was trying to drive into the campaign. tavis: we have seen a lot of politicians who have gone to 60 minutes to try to set the record straight. mr. romney has done that. now did you get a chance to see it, and what did you make about his appearance? >> he is trying to restart a conversation about the economy that is focused on barack obama. he was supposed to be doing the same thing but got sidetracked and badly by this video.

he will be ablepresident to get over this. he has to hope that is not the majority of people. the fact that a majority of people do not approve of how barack obama has handled the economy, but ultimately those people will say i am done with a guy who is currently in office. let's give the other guy a chance. the interview he has done and he is going to continue to do all of those things are an attempt to shift the conversation. good >> even republicans have said he is running and in that campaign. -- an inept campaign. he is trying to suggest he took

responsibility for these comments. did you see thus splitting hairs? >> i agree with that. they blame the campaign. we did the post mortem on the hillary clinton campaign, and the conclusion was that her campaign did not serve her. ultimately it is the job of the candidate. the candidate is the one that puts a person in charge of raising money. the candidate is the person who should decide on the message of the day. i think it is too easy to blame the campaign is not doing well. the candidate is at the center of the campaign. if one is good, the other is typically good.

if one is bad the other is typically bad. >> that still raises this question of why these mistakes, why keep shooting yourself in the foot of the term. -- sloot all the time? >> some of it comes from the fact that he is behind. i am not sure they expected to be in this position. you start to feel a pressure to change the dynamic and make something happen. you get up in the ninth inning, and you try to hit a home run rather than to just get on base and see what happens. it often happens with the team that is behind, and i think that is what is afflicting romney.

you just need a base hit. >> and everybody is talking about these. to my mind, these at worst break-even, so romney does a wonderful job in all of the debates. now the president is not going to fall on his face. now they say he breaks even. that does not do it for romney, does it? >> you probably have 46% of the people voting for obama and 46% of the people voting for romney, and then we do not know. is it possible they see romney on stage and he looks ready for the job and he is seen holding his own, does that matter or not?

i would guess that it stays the same. he is likely to play it relatively safe, the front runner strategy to not take any big risks. romney, i st. he is going to win it cleanly, but i think the kind of analysis in the political world that drives coverage to local television, i think it has to be seen as mitt romney won this debate because there is not another event that is going to have that kind of viewership that is going to get that kind of attention. that does well in ohio, but it does not give you what you need to change the narrative. tavis: i do not see the

president falling on his face, but who knows? what do you make of the fact the campaign would even come down to this. you look at the experience and the exposure this guy has had, and it really does come down to whether he can pull it out. what do you make of the fact that it has come down to this? >> you have 60% of the people saying the country is on the wrong track. the majority of people disapprove of how obama is handling the economy at a time when people are saying the economy as the most important issue. on paper, mitt romney should be winning this election, because

of the environmental factors working against a rock obama. i think is a testament to campaign's end candidates that campaigns do matter. the type of campaign you put together common and they do matter. they are able to counteract a very difficult environment, but i agree with you that mitt romney was chosen to be the nominee because the republican primary voter thought he was the person who could best bring the fight to barack obama on the economy. this is a specialist, so on and so forth, yet the sale has not been made, and we have seen some slippage. romney has had a steady lead. that has evaporated, and that is

part of the reason we are seeing president obama poll ahead. tavis: to your mind, has 13 a clear advantage to picking mr. ryan as his running mate? >> no. i do not think there would have been anyone in phnom romney was considering taking. i do not think he was serious about taking condoleezza rice. she could have changed the conversation, but the senator from ohio or paul ryan or tim pawlenty, i do not think any of them fundamentally alter the race, and i also think we have to be careful not to put too much weight on any payback in terms of deciding the overall

race. i do not think sarah palin helped john mccain, but i do not think anyone he picked held that election. people are going to vote for the person who is going to be president of the united states. can the vice president held? yes, but i think we overblow it, thinking it is going to alter the broad base. -- broad base. tavis: what is your sense of whether there is an international issue that might change this race? >> i always say if something they have been in existence, and you live with that uncertainty. that being said, i do not think

that winds up being a new issue for most voters. i would say if you look at previous elections, a foreign- policy rises to the back burner issue. only times of relative domestic tranquillity as the economy seem to be doing well. other times foreign policy does not make it to the back burner. doesn't matter a little biscuits? sure, but i think this election is about the economy first, the economy second, the economy third, and anything else to be honest. tavis: good to have you on the show. thanks for your work. >> it is always a pleasure. tavis: up next, iyanla vanzant.

stay with us. pleased to welcome iyanla vanzant. she just kicked off a series called "iyanla, fix my life." here are some scenes. >> this whole thing is alive. -- a lie. you are all hot mess, and this is exactly where you were when your father put his first needle in his arm. why would you wait 23 years to tell this child about this?

are you willing to lose it all? the greatest fear has come upon you. do not ever do it again. >> have you ever seen anything like that on television? i have not. >> the most difficult thing to confront is the truth. why is that so difficult for any of us to deal with? >> because we have a built-in mechanism that does not want to look weak and does not want to be wrong, and as i tell the

truth about what i did, it may and make me look weak. it makes me vulnerable to judgment, and it means i did wrong, and the ego does not want to be wrong ever. >> congratulations on the first episode. a little birdie told me the numbers were viewed on your first night. i expect some of that has to do with your guests from basketball wives, so that always helps, but from what i just saw, your typical guess is not celebrities. >> as a celebrity, i have personal fall. the other thing is celebrities

are people. there is a notion that if i get this or that, it makes me an immune to being human. it makes me immune to human issues, and it does not, so in addition to wanting to demonstrate that celebrities are a human beings with issues, i also wanted to demonstrate the same thing happens to celebrities. >> what is the commonality? >> the drive to resist being vulnerable. this woman had to resist being vulnerable. as public as it was, what a gift. tavis: what motivates people to

go through all this on television? >> i do not think they do it willingly. i think the universe calls them to it. people will be crazy on television, but to do this speaks to willing to be vulnerable, and that was her desire. we do not look for anybody. she wrote to us, and that is why she was a gas. >> we live in a world where people volunteer and often there is an ulterior motives, so how you read through the riffraff to get to that?

>> i pray, and if it does not plan right, i do not care who they are, because there has been some that i say no to. i pray because i want to be in perfect alignment with my creator. i do not care who you are. >> you referenced did a while ago. they saw you over today's -- over two days, and a tv show came out of it, but how did this project actually happened? >> had you not taken me to dinner, said me chicken, and made me write that book, there would be nothing to call me about, so i thank you about

that, and after her farewell season, she wanted to do a weekly roundup of life class, sir she invited me. the first one was on line, and it was so hugely received she took a weekly round up to the network, and we did it together, so we did six of them. then we did a tour. one day she said, you need your own show. we did not know what it was like. organically it unfolded, and i think for something like this to happen, people are suffering. this is my vision, to reach the largest number of people with

the least amount of effort common-law -- now the least amount of effort, because we have forgotten to be people. we know how to be doctors and lawyers and nurses, but how do i just sit with you in your vulnerability and not betray you or abuse you? we do not know how to do that even in our own homes, so that is my vision for the show that will help you live by principal and out run the vehicle -- out run the ego. tavis: in your book you talk about the first time you have a show. white folk can fail their way to the top.

you had a daytime show, but now you get a second shot. how are you approaching this differently from the first time you add your own show? >> this is my ministry. i am very clear about that. i have a new vision, and that is in line with the old vision to produce and gives people a better life. before i was not aligned with people who were aligned with minor position. we are older now. i do not want to say older. i am better now. >> my grandmother likes to say i am chronologically gifted. >> i am not seeking any thing but service to my creator. i do not need a house or a car,

but to be present with each guest that sits across from me, and i am committed to a bigger thing than me, which is the vision of own, so as long as i stay clear to that vision, i cannot fail. failing is not an option. >> how does it feel to be a part -- olping o'brien succeed prah succeed. she has been public about the roles she has taken on in making sure her networks of seeds. i have said i would never bet against her, but everybody knows she put her energy into this, so how does it feel to be part of that process to help her make this work?

>> both of us agreed. both of us recognize this is better than both of us. this is the salary our grandmothers did not get paid for. they did of hard work in this world and did not get paid. we are going to have a woman of color build a network that changes the face of television. this i know for sure, because the other networks said this could not be done. healing on television could not be done. they said no one would watch. it was done. by a woman of color who has a grandmother watching over her. i have a grandmother watching over me.

own will change the face of television. this i know for sure. tavis: there you have it, so if you will seewn., it. i expect they will make it all the way up there as long as the project is on. glad to have you here. that is it for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. join me next time for a conversation with penny marshall on her memoir, my mother was nuts.

that is next time. we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. pbs station from viewers like thank you. >> be more. >> be more.